Lewis Hamilton (full name Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton) was born on January 7, 1985 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. He is a British Formula One racing driver from England, currently racing for the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team.

Biography and Career :

His parents divorced when he was just two years old and until the age of ten he lived with his mother. After this he lived with his father and his step-mother.

He discovered his taste for racing at the age of six when his father bought him a radio-controlled car and after one year he became vice-champion in the national championship. Soon after this his father bought him as a Christmas present a go-kart and from that moment his father supported his career and many times this was very hard financially.
He had to take three jobs.

Lewis attended The John Henry Newman School in Stevenage and there he took karate lessons.

At the age of eight he started his karting career at Rye House Kart Circuit and soon after this he won many races and championships. At ten years he met Ron Dennis and told him that is a champion and he want to drive his cars and Ron told him to phone him after nine years.

After he progressed from Cadet ranks to Junior Yamaha and Junior Intercontinental A divisions he signed in 1998 with Ron Dennis' McLaren and he entered in McLaren driver development program.

He began his car racing career in the 2001 British Formula Renault Winter Series and after some victories there he won the GP2 championship at his first attempt, beating Nelson Piquet, Jr.

In 2006 after Montoya went to NASCAR and Kimi Raikkonen to Ferrari Hamilton became the second driver at McLaren after the champion Fernando Alonso. His first season in Formula One was extraordinary with six pole-positions and four wins but he lost the championship in the last round against Kimi Raikkonen.

Trivia :

- Height: 175cm
- His nickname is Billion Dollar Man.
- His car number is 22.

Quotes :

- "Outside of Formula One my heroes are foremost my father, then Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King. Being black is not a negative. It's a positive, if anything, because I'm different. In the future it can open doors to different cultures and that is what motor sport is trying to do anyway."

- "He's a quality driver, very strong and only 16. If he keeps this up I'm sure he will reach F1. It's something special to see a kid of his age out on the circuit. He's clearly got the right racing mentality." - Michael Schumacher, speaking about Hamilton in 2001

Records Formula One :

- Most consecutive podiums from debut race: 9 (previous record was 2)
- Most consecutive podiums for a British driver: 9 (tied with Jim Clark)
- Youngest driver to lead the World Championship
- Most wins in a debut season: 4 (equalling Jacques Villeneuve's record from 1996)
- Most pole positions in a debut season: 6Image source : upi.com